


That's Not My Name

by lululawrence



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, American AU, Kinda, M/M, Meet-Cute, damn i didn't include niall, sorry niall - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-10-01 03:48:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10180010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lululawrence/pseuds/lululawrence
Summary: He froze for a second, because he hadn’t expected to be hit with such an intense gaze.  Green eyes beneath a beanie and loads of curly hair made Louis miss a beat before coming back to himself.“Uh, hi.  Sorry.  Can I take your order?”The boy (man?) gave a shy smile and said, “Just a caramel macchiato, please.  Grande.”  Louis nodded as he scribbled onto the cup and punched it into the register.As the boy held his phone to the machine to pay, Louis asked, “Name please?”“Oh, uh, Marcus.”Louis scribbled Marcus on the cup and handed it off, but not before giving the boy a smile and nodding over to where he’d be able to pick up his drink.  Louis watched him a bit longer than he probably should have, then forced himself to move on.Or the one where the cute boy coming into the coffee shop gives Louis a different name every time...for over a month.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Layne Faire (HisDarlin)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HisDarlin/gifts).



> This is for my dearest, darlingest [Layne](http://laynefaire.tumblr.com)! You're a peach and amazing and I'm sorry I couldn't gift you anything more than this, though it did already turn out to be three times longer than I initially expected so. There's that. lol
> 
> This work is unbetaed and for that I greatly apologize, but there were deadlines. lol Thank you as always to [Tin](http://silentlarryshipper.tumblr.com) for being the best brainstormer and cheerleader ever. 
> 
> The title comes from the incredible song "That's Not My Name" by the Ting Tings. All mistakes and errors are my own, these are fictional depictions of real people who exist so please don't send it to anyone affiliated with them as I don't actually know them or claim this to be true, blah blah blah. Enjoy!

Louis looked up at the next customer in the everlasting line of moody people waiting to get their Monday morning fix of caffeine before wandering off to class.  The half asleep girl gave her green tea order and moved along in line.  Louis wrote her name on the cup, passed it on, and then raised his eyes once more.

He froze for a second, because he hadn’t expected to be hit with such an intense gaze.  Green eyes beneath a beanie and loads of curly hair made Louis miss a beat before coming back to himself.

“Uh, hi.  Sorry.  Can I take your order?”

The boy (man?) gave a shy smile and said, “Just a caramel macchiato, please.  Grande.”  Louis nodded as he scribbled onto the cup and punched it into the register.  

As the boy held his phone to the machine to pay, Louis asked, “Name please?”

“Oh, uh, Marcus.”

Louis scribbled Marcus on the cup and handed it off, but not before giving the boy a smile and nodding over to where he’d be able to pick up his drink.  Louis watched him a bit longer than he probably should have, then forced himself to move on.  It was too busy to worry about a pretty boy right now.

 

*~~***~~*

 

Louis was bored out of his mind.  It was around 2:30 in the afternoon on a Tuesday and everyone was in class.  There were maybe three people who had come in over the past half hour and Louis was almost to the point where he would willingly clean the cappuccino machine.  Almost.

Luckily he was spared from that fate, almost, when a customer walked in.  Louis walked over to where he could greet them and was pleasantly surprised to see it was the cute, curly haired boy from the morning before.  What was his name again?  Mark?  Marvin?  Hm.  

“Hi there, can I take your order?”

Louis watched as the boy flushed a bit and gave a smile before ordering.  “Uh, yeah.  A grande caramel macchiato, a tall Americano, and a tall dark roast please.”

“Oh, making the whole run today, huh?”

“Yeah, something like that,” the boy mumbled.  He looked nervous as he once again held his phone up to pay.

“Can I have your name?” Louis asked, poised and ready to write his name again.  He knew it started with an M, but because of the rush couldn’t remember anything more than that.  He technically didn’t need his name today, he was literally the only customer there and Louis would be making his drinks himself.  But, as needs must.

“Oh, uhm.  Alvin.”

Louis paused, looked up at the boy a little confused, but then wrote Alvin on the cup.  He wasn’t positive on what this beautiful boy’s name was, but he knew for a fact it wasn’t Alvin.  Or at least, that wasn’t the name he’d given yesterday.

He went about making the drinks and put them in a carrier for the boy.  “Here you go, Alvin.”  The boy flushed even more red, eyes not raising from the cups as he took them from Louis.

“Thanks,” he said quietly before scuttling towards the door.

Louis just stood and watched, at a loss for what just happened.  Maybe he had just gotten the boy’s name mixed up in the craziness that was the rush yesterday.  Oh well.

 

*~~***~~*

 

Okay, Louis hadn’t been remembering incorrectly.  Over the course of the past month or so, Louis had served the boy with the curls at least three times a week and every single time he’d given Louis a different name.

Link.  Frank.  David.  Peter.  Jason.  William.  Curt.  Louis didn’t even remember them all, but it was ridiculous.  What the hell was going on?  Did he really think Louis wouldn’t notice?  Was it a game?

Louis was getting overly frustrated, really.  He couldn’t even go about with his usual daydreams he creates over pretty boys he’ll never get to have actual conversations with to because he didn’t have a set name to go with the dimples and hands.  At least with others, he knew he’d never learn their names so he just made one up for them, but this game of constant rotation and never having anything stick?  It was getting old and causing Louis’ creativity to fail him.  It was quite disappointing, really.

As Louis angrily wiped at the sticky substances that had gathered on the counter after their lunchtime rush, he thought about how it always went down.  This kid with the long legs and knobby knees, toes slightly pointed in, would trip over himself getting to the counter and quietly give the same order he always did, until Louis would ask for a name.  

This was the part that got Louis so curious though.  Whenever it was time for him to give his name, the boy would flush.  He’d grow this adorable rosy pink from the tips of his ears to his cheeks and all down his neck, bite his lip, nervously look around, and then stutter out some ridiculous name that obviously wasn’t his.  Louis was a combination of annoyed and endeared by this strange boy who looked almost embarrassed to be giving these false names, and yet he continued to do so.  Why?  What would cause him to do this?  And why the hell can’t Louis just get his name so he could daydream and maybe possibly definitely not wank over him in peace?

Louis threw the wet rag into the sink and was about to start restocking the cups when the door opened and Louis’ frustrating and beautiful boy walked in.  Gearing himself up to finally get to the root of what was happening, Louis walked up to the register.

“Hey, welcome back.  Getting the same order as usual, or just for you this time?”

The boy was already turning red.  God, Louis wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not.

“Just me, this time.  But uhm, could I actually get a chai latte?”

Raising his eyebrows in surprise, Louis nodded and rang up the boy’s drink.  Louis picked up a cup to write the drink on, and then asked, “Okay, and can I have your name?  I mean, your actual name.  I don’t understand why you keep giving me different ones.”

The boy’s eyes grew wide and he was definitely beet red now.  Poor thing, Louis hadn’t meant to startle him, he just really needed to know what was going on.

“I…” the boy squeaked out before clearing his throat.  “I lost a bet?”

Louis just stood there and stared at him.  “You lost a bet,” he repeated slowly.  “Is that a question or did you really?”

“I did.  I lost a bet.  With my roommate Liam.  Well, mostly with his boyfriend, Zayn, but like, Liam was the one who started the bet and anyway, I lost,” the boy rambled before coming to a stop far too early, because Louis still didn’t understand what had been going on.

“Okay, I now very much understand you lost a bet.  But...wait,” Louis shook his head in wonder.  It couldn’t be the same two he sat with in his Film Noir course, could it?  “Zayn and Liam?  Like, Zayn the supermodel lookalike and Liam the dude who looks like David Beckham?  That Zayn and Liam?”

The boy’s jaw dropped and he nodded.  “Do, uh.  Do you know them?”

“Yeah, they’re my mates from one of my film studies courses.  They come in here sometimes to chat, but I haven’t seen them in awhile...not since...oh.”  Some more pieces came together for Louis.  “Not since you started coming in.  And you always got their usual drinks.  Shit, they made you their lackey, didn’t they?”

“Kinda.  So yeah, I lost a bet--”

“What was the bet on?” Louis interrupted as he went to make the chai latte.  After all, that was the real reason this guy came in.  The boy remained silent and when Louis looked up he found he had followed him down the counter, but was now somehow even darker than before.  “Oh come on, it can’t be that bad.”

“It was a bet that I wouldn’t have the guts to talk to my crush,” he finally managed to get out.  His voice was quiet, like the first few times he’d come into the coffee shop.  If it was even possible, Louis was even more fond of this guy than before.

“She’s pretty intimidating, huh?”

“Well, he’s the kind of guy everyone likes and I’m just...not.  So...yeah.”

When Louis heard the male pronoun, a  _ zing _ of excitement shot up his spine.  “Ah, well don’t underestimate yourself.  I’m sure you’re plenty charming when you want to be.  I mean, you’ve got those dimples and curls.  Can’t go wrong with those.”

The boy released his dimples in a wide smile.  Fuck, Louis wanted to do that every day.  How was this guy even real?  Louis held the drink out for him to grab, but pulled it back at last second leaving the boy with his hand outstretched and a confused smile on his face.

“You still haven’t told me your real name  _ or _ why you kept giving me fake ones.  You owe me that, at least.”

“Oh, right.  Uhm, so since I lost the bet, they told me that I had to come to this specific coffee shop to get us coffee for a month.  I was confused why this one was so important to them until I got here the first day.  Then I knew they were fucking with me.  But, uh, yeah.  The big caveat was that I couldn’t give my real name.  I had to give a different name every time.”  After talking so slowly, the boy practically tripped over his words now to get them all out.  He took a deep breath and rolled his eyes.  “They probably thought it was hysterical and are patting themselves on the back for it still.  Especially since they knew you this whole fucking time.”

Louis blinked taking in all the information.  “I’m confused.  So why did they specify it had to be this coffee shop?  Why does their knowing me make this more amusing for them?”

“Shit, I shouldn’t have said anything,” he murmured, grabbing for the chai latte.  Their fingers grazed as he forced it out of Louis’ hand.  Louis might be going crazy, but he swore he felt tingles from where they’d touched.  It looked like Louis still wasn’t going to get his answers, though, because the boy was running away.

“Wait!” Louis called after him.  “I still don’t know your real name!”

“It’s Harry!” the boy yelled back before dashing out the door.

Harry.  Louis could definitely work with that.

 

*~~***~~*

 

Louis had scared Harry off.  He was sure of it.  It had been over a week since he’d seen him last, and after just over a month of seeing him somewhat regularly, he was quite disappointed.  He’d gotten used to his wide green eyes, his flushed cheeks, and his gloriously beautiful hands coming in at least a few times a week and he was going through withdrawal.

It was another boring afternoon shift with practically no one in the shop when Zayn and Liam came walking in.

“Lads!  You’ve been avoiding me!  What made you finally decide to come back in?” Louis said, pretending to weep in happiness.

“Lou, stop!  You’re acting like we don’t see you in class or something,” Liam said, running a hand over his hair.  “Speaking of which, where were you on Tuesday?”

Louis squished his face up in frustration.  “Here.  Had to pull a double because Jade got sick.  I’m too broke to say no to the extra money and figured I could miss the class on Double Indemnity and just watch it on my own later.”

Zayn nodded.  “Makes sense.  Sorry, bro.  Heard you met Harry though, yeah?”  There was a glint in Zayn’s eye that told Louis he was amused about that for some reason.

“Fuck off, there’s more to that story than what I’ve heard.  Why’d you send the poor guy over here?  The way he was talking it was like you’d sent him here because you knew it was where I worked, but that made even  _ me _ feel egotistical.”

Zayn and Liam shared a look that had Louis even more confused.

“Yeah, so he didn’t tell you everything, then?” Zayn asked while Liam pursed his lips like he was trying not to smile.

“Would I be asking you if he had?”

“Probably not.  Hey, we’re going to be watching Double Indemnity again tomorrow night because Beickelman made it sound like he’d be giving us a quiz about it on Monday.  You wanna join us and we can point out some of the things that he made note of?”

Louis went over his mental calendar for a second.  That really would help, he prefers watching movies for class with others so he can talk out ideas he has about possible interpretations and symbolism while it’s going on rather than after the movie.

“Yeah, I think that’ll work.  Just let me know when and we’ll go from there.”  Louis made sure they both had his number as well as their tall Americano and dark roast when they left.

 

*~~***~~*

 

Louis showed up at the address Zayn had texted him only about ten minutes after the time he said he’d be there feeling quite proud of himself.  He knocked on the door and Harry opened the door.

Oh.  Right.  Harry had mentioned he was Liam’s roommate, so that made sense if he thought about it.  Harry apparently hadn’t been warned of this, though, because his eyes about bugged out of his head upon seeing Louis on his doorstep.

“Uh, hi Louis.  Why’re you, uhm, what brings you here?”  His voice is high and squeaky, not at all the low timbre Louis had gotten used to.  Was Harry  _ nervous? _

“Hey, Zayn and Liam said I could join them to watch Double Indemnity tonight.  Are they here?”

Harry’s jaw dropped in surprise for a moment before an angry look crossed his face.

“Interfering bastards,” he muttered under his breath.  “There seems to have been some confusion, but come on in.  I’ll call Liam.”

“Thanks,” Louis said softly.  He took his shoes off at the door and walked to the couch Harry indicated before Harry walked back towards where the bedrooms were.  They must be paying a mint to live there, because they had at least twice the room Louis did.  It wasn’t bad for college housing at all.

Louis could hear Harry’s voice through the walls, but not actual words.  He didn’t sound incredibly pleased, but hopefully Louis showing up here wouldn’t be an issue.  After just a few minutes, Harry came walking back out into the living space with a strained smile on his face.  

“So, apparently we’ve been set up.”

Louis blinked.  “I’m sorry, what?”

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his curls.  They bounced right back into place, and that just wasn’t fair.  Louis wanted to touch them and he also wanted hair that looked great even after running your hands through it.  He had neither at this point, but he’d settle for fifty percent.

Harry opened his mouth to speak when there was another knock on the door.

“What the hell did they do now?” he groaned as he stomped away from Louis.

Louis was very confused.  Set up?  For a joke?  Were Liam and Zayn laughing their asses off somewhere for reasons Louis couldn’t even begin to fathom?  

“Are you sure?” Harry asked whoever was there.  Louis leaned back to see if he could get a better view, but then he realized he already had a view of Harry’s bum in some crazy tight jeans.  He didn’t really need another view, the best one was already right there.

“Okay, well.  Thank you.  Have a great night.”  The door slammed shut and Harry came walking back with a few white bags in hand.  “So, hope you like Chinese.  Apparently the boys went all out on this for us.”

“Harry, I don’t understand.”

Harry threw himself down on the sofa beside Louis as soon as he’d set the food on the coffee table.

“I lost the bet because I was too scared to try to talk to you so in losing the bet the boys ensured that I would  _ have _ to talk to you by going into your fucking coffee shop repeatedly and now they invited you over here when they never had any intention of being here so we could have a date that neither of us even agreed to and even ordered us Chinese.  Which I don’t know if you like.  And I don’t know if you like me or men or any of this and I’m so sorry, I’m more than embarrassed, so it’s okay if you want to leave and pretend like you don’t have a clue who I am after this.”  Harry leaned his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands.  

Louis was honestly impressed.  He felt like Harry had such a hard time stringing sentences together until he got riled up, and then he would just cut loose and throw everything at you at once.  It was incredibly adorable, even if Louis’ brain had a hard time catching up to the change in pace.

“All of this was because of me?” he clarified.  Louis didn’t want to misunderstand this.  This was important, he could feel it.  “Harry.  Please look at me.”

Harry huffed out a sigh and slowly turned his head so he was looking at Louis even while still hiding most of his face in his hands.

“Was I the crush you mentioned last week in the coffee shop?” Louis asked softly.

“God, I’m so sorry.  You didn’t ask for this…” Harry huffed out as he threw himself back against the couch.  

“Don’t apologize.  I’m honored, honestly.”  Louis bit his lip.  “Honored and relieved that it’s mutual.”

Harry’s head snapped up to look at Louis in shock.  “You...what?”

Louis chuckled a bit as he slowly let his hand drift over to Harry.  He squeezed his wrist lightly before pulling back, still unsure of what their boundaries were.

“I don’t know when you saw me or how you know me, but I’ve been dying to know you better ever since you first told me your name was Martin or Matthew or whatever.”

“Marcus,” Harry corrected.

“Oh, right.  Marcus.”  Louis rolled his eyes.  “Definitely should have remembered that one out of the twenty five different names you’ve given me in the past month and a half.”

“So, you don’t mind that Z and Liam set us up?  Like, on a date of their choosing for us?”  Harry’s green eyes were practically burning in their intensity.  There was no way Louis would be able to look away from them, nor did he want to.

“I absolutely don’t mind.  Takes the pressure off of us to ask for the first date.  Now we just have to fight over who asks for the second.”

Harry swatted his shoulder.  “Cheeky.  Who said I would want a second?”

Louis snorted a bit.  “If you don’t want a second, I don’t even have to stay for the first.”  Louis started to get up as part of his joke, but Harry’s hand darted out and firmly grasped Louis’ own.

“Don’t you dare leave now that I just got you here.”

Louis sat back down, closer to Harry, and turned his hand over so they could lace their fingers together.  The tingles were definitely back, and if that happened every time he touched Harry, he wasn’t sure he would mind.

“So.  It’s mutual?  We’ve discussed it?”  Harry asked.

“Yeah,” Louis confirmed.  “Now please tell me they got us Kung Pao Chicken, because I’m starving.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Happy Birthday, Layne!! 
> 
> Kudos and comments give fic authors life, so please leave a kind one if you enjoyed this. I'd also love you forever if you would reblog my fic post for this, found right [here](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/158152779523/thats-not-my-name-by-lululawrence-for-laynefaire).


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